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Moldova Agrees To Privatize Wine and Tobacco Enterprises 

The Moldovan parliament on 19 October passed legislation privatizing wineries and tobacco enterprises by a vote of 55 to 36, with only the Communist Party voting against.

The bills' previous delay caused the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to suspend financial and other assistance programs to the country in 1999. With the Moldovan economy largely dependent on these two industries "the decision of the parliament is one that has no other alternative," INTERLIC news agency quoted President Petru Lucinschi as saying. . .

Communist Party leader, Vladimir Voronin, however, is far from optimistic: "Only the blind do not see that from the outset of the so-called reforms, which made Moldova one of the poorest countries in Europe and the CIS, it has been this predatory privatization that has served as a well-thought-out and well-adjusted mechanism for the monstrous, unsurpassable plunder of the people for the fabulous enrichment of a narrow group of swindlers and rogues. ... Today you have hammered the last nail in the coffin of the national economy, but your joy at this privatization is premature."

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